Jasmin

~ In Memory of Jasmin ~

Stray and feral cats in Hillsborough County, Florida have lost a good friend. We are deeply saddened to bring you news that Jasmin Kung passed away suddenly on Wednesday, December 14.

Jasmin began working with the Animal Coalition of Tampa (ACT) in 2001 and the next year was also instrumental in helping to found Cat Call, an adoptions group in Brandon. Officially, Jasmin was ACT’s supervisor of prep, shaving the cats and securing them to spayboards, but in fact she filled numerous roles.

Like many feral cat advocates, Jasmin started with other plans for her life. After retiring from the military, she had hoped to rescue dogs, but one day a cat moved into her backyard. She called a local rescue group to “solve” the problem. “What they said was, ‘What are you willing to do for this cat?” Jasmin revealed later.

That single question unleashed a seemingly unstoppable force, as Jasmin committed her time and boundless energy to Trap-Neuter-Return for feral cat colonies throughout the Tampa Bay area. No task was too small or too big. She fed and trapped cats, she trained other volunteers, and she knew the lay of the land perhaps better than any local cat advocate.

Throughout the past year, Jasmin worked intensely with ACT’s Linda and Frank Hamilton to organize a full-time, fixed-site spay/neuter clinic. In early 2006, she would have fulfilled the dream of job of her life: managing the clinic designed to end euthanasia in Hillsborough County.

Frank Hamilton aknowledged that, “Jasmin worked every one of ACT’s 48 clinics. She is the only person who could say that—even Linda and I have missed clinics, but Jasmin never did. In fact, she got into an accident on the way to SpayDay, drove her car to the clinic, and later it had to be towed away!

“Jasmin was big on educating folks about TNR, not only new caregivers, but business owners and property managers, too. She worked with people on different listservs and visited other locations. She even kept a loose-leaf binder on her colonies, with not only all the ACA forms, but pictures of each cat.”

Jasmin even planned vacations around SpayDay. She once told ACA’s Becky Robinson that she and her mother, who lives in Texas, were extremely close—but her mom knew that if they got together on a SpayDay weekend, it had to be in Tampa.

Despite a deep fear of flying (“I never fly anywhere,” she once told us), in February 2005, Jasmin and Linda Hamilton flew to Washington, DC, to volunteer their considerable expertise at ACA’s Feline Frenzy! mega-clinic that sterilized 512 cats in two days.

As ACT’s photographer, Jasmin chronicled every clinic and fundraising event with slide shows praising the volunteers and glorifying the cats. Her love for them all shines through. You can see many of her photographs at www.actampa.org.

ACT’s SpayDay volunteers are collecting funds to name the cat room in the new clinic after Jasmin. Although she never saw it happen, Jasmin's conviction to open the clinic was a reality in her mind. We are committed to make it a reality...for our Jasmin.

Our movement has lost more than a friend and all of us at Animal Coaltion of Tampa are devastated with the loss.

To donate to the Jasmin Memorial, click here .